Weapons:
Before the Civil War, soldiers typically carried muskets that held just one bullet at a time. The range of these muskets was about 250 yards. The weapons effective range was only 80 yards. Therefore, armies typically fought battles at a close range. The Gatling gun was the ancestor of the modern machine gun, it was the most successful of several rapid-fire guns that were born before the war. Its efficiency in killing only made war more deadly. It was not used a lot during the Civil War. By 1863, repeating rifles, or weapons that could fire more than one bullet, without having to reload, provided another option for soldiers. The most famous of these repeating rifles was Spencer Carbine. The Spencer Carbine could fire seven shots in 30 seconds.